In car power

[MuddyMike]

I have a mobile phone like device I need to occasionally re charge in the car. I have tried charging it with a "charge any phone" universal car charger I already have and although it does charge it does so very slowly. Does anyone have experience with one of these things that will charge more quickly? I have thought that an inverter and the mains charger might solve the problem, and Aldi have them on offer next week.

would rather have a dedicated in car charger that can live permanently in the car though, then it is more likely to be there when I need it.

Mike

[John Williamson]

I would rather have a dedicated in car charger that can live permanently in

I've got a few "mobile phone like devices" which I often need to charge while I'm away from the mains. Most makers have a dedicated car charger available, while for the HP iPaq PDA, there is a setting in the power menu which lets me select whether I want a fast or slow charge from USB. The maker's unit will charge it in a hour or so, while USB takes a couple of hours at least.

The main problem with charging from USB is the current limiting which is set down in the standard. 500mA is standard, while some sockets can provide 1000mA if the connected device sends the right handshake. The HP charger provides 2 Amps, all at 5 Volts.

[Rob]

I would rather have a dedicated in car charger that can live permanently in

Just get yourself a car2USB adapter and connect your device using it's USB cable. The benefit of this is that it is a simple and neat solution that sits flush with the dashboard and will allow all sorts of devices to be charged using their USB cable. No need for a number of dedicated chargers

I use one of these which can be had from Amazon etc.

think it can deliver up to 1 or 2 amps.

[Tony]

in

I've not used this brand but have used an inverter and mains charger in my car with no ill effects and it does seem to charge quicker than using USB (as John says below - it's all down to the current that is supplied standard USB 500mA but the mains charger supplies double this).

[MuddyMike]

> I would rather have a dedicated in car charger that can live permanently

I have tried a car usb adapter, and even tried a different lead bought for the purpose but this device does not charge from the USB lead at all, not even when connected to the PC, Only from its dedicated mains charger, or as I have said very slowly from the universal phone charger.

Mike

[dom]

in

Some cars have the power socket permanently powered, whether the car engine is running or not. Others cut power to the socket.

If your car is the former type, be careful to unplug your inverter - they can still suck a fair bit of juice with nothing plugged into them.

[Andrew Gabriel]

What's the output rating of the dedicated mains charger? Does it connect to the device's USB port, or a dedicated connector?

[Terry Casey]

week.http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_18978.htm?WT.mc_id...> > I would rather have a dedicated in car charger that can live permanently in

Some cars - Ford, I think - have three sockets for the auxiliary fuse.

Depending on which pair you plug the fuse into determines whether the socket is controlled by the igition switch or not.

Take a look at the manual.

[Scott M]

Some devices are intelligent about what they'll charge from:

• Dell laptops have a 3rd wire in the power lead that runs to an ID chip in the PSU. No ID, no charge.

• Nokia phones will refuse to charge from an unlimited current supply. There needs to be something like a 10R resistor in the feed-lead to get them to charge from those poundshop univsersal USB charger leads.

• Toshiba laptops seem to be able to sense the connected PSU somehow (not sure how as they're standard LiteON ones) - I couldn't use a slightly lower rated (say 3.5A) Toshiba one in place of my normal (say

4A) Toshiba one.

etc.

[Andy Burns]

Not quite that drastic, they'll limit themselves to drawing a smaller amount of current, which can lead to reduced cpu/graphics/charging performance, but they will run (e.g. from certain HP power supplies).

A lot of devices that charge from microUSB (the new "universal" phone charging standard) detect a 0-200ohm resistance between the data pins as indicating a dedicated charging port with higher power available.

[Londonman]

I have a mobile phone like device I need to occasionally re charge in the car. I have tried charging it with a "charge any phone" universal car charger I already have and although it does charge it does so very slowly. Does anyone have experience with one of these things that will charge more quickly? I have thought that an inverter and the mains charger might solve the problem, and Aldi have them on offer next week.

would rather have a dedicated in car charger that can live permanently in the car though, then it is more likely to be there when I need it.

Mike

I run a 500w inverter *all* day while working in my van. It runs a laptop and 3 chargers easily. Straight from the usual car type cigarette lighter socket. Silverline make it and it's available most good stores or FleaBay

[MuddyMike]

The mains charger is rated 5v -1600mA

To the same mini USB as the lead to the PC.

Mike